Fake iPhone Report Throws Apple Stock

by , 7:55 AM EDT, May 17th, 2007

Apple stock took a wild ride on Wednesday after what initially appeared to be a legitimate leaked memo claimed that the iPhone would be delayed until October, and Mac OS X 10.5 wouldn't ship until January 2008. Once the memo appeared on Engadget late in the morning, the Mac and iPod maker's stock dropped about three points almost immediately in a trading frenzy.

Apple reacted quickly and issued a statement saying that the iPhone and Leopard are both still on track - the iPhone will ship at the end of June, and Leopard will ship in October. Engadget ran a retraction once it had Apple's real statement, and then the company's stock began to stabilize.

How someone was able to create an internal email that looked legitimate to Apple employees is still unclear, and the company is looking into the incident. Investors, however, are looking for more and want an SEC investigation, according to Business 2.0. Many were dumping their stock and potentially losing money in the process.

TMO forum members offered their own take on the situation. "The FUDmeisters are going to extraordinary lengths, and this was IMO a deliberate attempt to whack the stock," said Tommo_UK. "The SEC want to investigate something? They should go hell-for-leather on this, if Apple don't themselves. Something tells me that His Steveness is not going to be very happy about this and is likely to launch a full-scale investigation of his own."

SNIPUS added "The people who got really nailed are the ones that had conservative stops in. And the ones who profited were the crooks that had buy stops.... I agree there will be an investigation but not by Apple."

Apple's stock never fully recovered on Wednesday and closed down at US$107.34. Apple is currently trading in the pre-market at $107.70, up 0.36 (0.34%).

Jeff Gamet is TMO's Morning Editor and Reviews Editor. He lectures, teaches and speaks on Mac OS X and design-related topics, and is the author of The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X from Peachpit Press.

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